Farha Naz Zaman, head of marketing of Grameenphone, has been honoured with Asia's Top Outstanding Woman Marketeer of the Year award by the Asia Marketing Federation (AMF). The award ceremony was held in Thailand recently, where Farha Naz Zaman was acknowledged among esteemed peers and industry leaders across Asia, reads a press release. Asia Marketing Federation (AMF) is a reputed governing body in Asia for recognizing outstanding achievements in the field of marketing across the region. Won't get AL candidacy without record of involvement in party politics: Hasan Mahmud Expressing her feelings, Farha Naz Zaman, said, "I am genuinely humbled and deeply moved to have been awarded by the Asia Marketing Federation. This award is a collective effort of my team members and colleagues to uphold Grameenphone's values in empowering societies with innovative services and digital solutions and enhancing people's lives. I am proud to represent Bangladesh and the contribution of our women in the field of marketing at a global platform. I am inspired to continue my journey of excellence with Grameenphone towards the betterment of societies." BAF chief returns from USA Congratulating Farha Naz Zaman, Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman stated, "At Grameenphone we strive to ensure a diverse, equitable, and inclusive workplace for all to march forward to a sustainable future. We are incredibly proud of Farha's well-deserved achievement, and this recognition is a testament to her prowess and leadership abilities. Her relentless pursuit of excellence, creativity, and passion for delivering exceptional marketing campaigns has been instrumental in Grameenphone's success and she has always been ready to rise to the occasion despite challenges. Farha is a role model when it comes to thinking big and delivering even bigger things together with her high performing team members." US-Bangla to operate daily flights on Dhaka-Bangkok route from Dec 1 This accolade is a testament to Grameenphone's commitment to promoting an environment that supports diversity and equality as the company seeks to set the bar high in ensuring gender diversity and inclusion. Farha Naz Zaman is a customer-centric, passionate marketeer who believes in always being on the learning curve - with more than 17 years of experience in various fields of sales and marketing. Prior to being appointed as the Marketing Director, she was the Head of Premium Segment in Grameenphone. She has been an advocate for gender equality and has actively supported initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion. Her achievements serve as an inspiration to aspiring marketers and professionals, particularly women, across Bangladesh and the region. The AMF Asia Marketing Excellence Award was organized by the Asia Marketing Federation (AMF), the Apex networking body in the field of marketing with members spanning across 19 countries in Asia.

The Grameenphone Academy Night, a celebration programme hosted by Grameenphone Academy, was held in the capital recently. The event was organised to award the winners of the competition "Grameenphone Academy – Cisco Network Academy 4IR Learning Challenge," hosted by Grameenphone Academy, a free open online learning platform. Last year, the Grameenphone Academy rolled out on-campus town halls at nine universities and organised an intra-university competition based on courses offered – cybersecurity, the internet of things, and python. There were three competitions per university in different categories along with one for Female@STEM. The universities are AUST, IUT, ULAB, UIU, IUBAT, DIU, BracU and NSU. "The Grameenphone Academy is one of multiple initiatives from the Grameenphone house, designed to upskill people to become smart citizens. I thank the academicians for giving us access to the industry and joining hands with us in operating this academy's activities," Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman said. The Grameenphone Academy was kicked off in May 2022 to build a bridge between academia, industry, and students. It also aims to balance the gender gap by emphasising upskilling of female students. To date, 45,000 students enrolled from 170+ universities and colleges, and 23,000 students, including 8,200 female ones, completed certification from this academy. The academy currently offers 14 courses, developed by Grameenphone's in-house experts and in partnership with the Cisco Network Academy, Amarischool, Creative IT, and Bright Skills, on career readiness, entrepreneurship, future industry skills, freelancing with WordPress, and essential digital skills.

Grameenphone users have been experiencing network disruptions in several areas since this (February 23, 2023) morning. Many GP customers posted on social media that they are facing problems while sending SMS and making phone calls. Also read: GP Star customers to get several benefits at Mitsubishi showroom, Rangs workshop Contacted, Khairul Basher, Head of Communications, GP, said, “We sincerely apologize for the temporary difficulty in making calls due to multiple fiber optics cables being cut. Our team is prioritizing this issue and working relentlessly to resolve the problem at the earliest.” “Due to fiber optics cables getting cut during road maintenance work in Gazipur, Tangail and Sirajganj, some of our customers were facing connectivity problems. However, the situation has been brought under control and all the issues are currently resolved,” he said. Read More: Grameenphone introduces mobile data plan feature

Grameenphone recently introduced bKash as its preferred payment partner.bKash will be the primary payment option to facilitate one tap payment experience for the customers in the MyGP app.Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone and Kamal Quadir, CEO of bKash, formally launched the new service at a ceremony held in Dhaka Wednesday.This integration, which is the "first of its kind in the industry, will simplify the digital lifestyle of the customers with hassle-free, convenient and secured payment with one tap," Grameenphone said. Read more: Grameenphone makes international outgoing calls to Türkiye, Syria freeOnce a customer binds bKash as the preferred payment method, they no longer need to put in OTP/PIN every time and the payment will be done with a tap of digital consent from the bKash account on the go.To activate this service, a GP customer needs to add bKash as a preferred payment method through the MyGP app. After clicking on "Add bKash Account," the users need to click the "I Agree" option and enter bKash account number.In the next step, OTP and PIN should be entered only for the first time to bind bKash as GP's preferred payment method.

Grameenphone has been honoured as the highest taxpayer for 2021-22 fiscal in the telecommunication sector. The telecom operator attained the recognition for seven fiscal years in a row. The National Board of Revenue (NBR) conferred the award to Grameenphone during an event Wednesday in Dhaka. Finance Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal was the chief guest at the event. Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone, received the award. "During FY22, Grameenphone contributed to the national exchequer as a direct tax of Tk2,490 crore and withholding tax of Tk1,158 crores. Since its inception till September 2022, the total contribution of Grameenphone to the national exchequer is Tk103,497 crores, which includes a contribution to NBR of Tk72,086 crore as direct and indirect tax, withholding tax of Tk11,107 crore, and contribution to the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) of Tk20,305 crore," the operator said.  "Since the ban on Grameenphone's SIM sales in June 2022, the country's telecom sector has been witnessing an overall decline – from recording a total of 184.45 million subscribers in June to 181.67 million in October." Read more: Q3 2022: Grameenphone reports 6% revenue growth despite ban on SIM sales "Besides directly hampering the telecom sector, this embargo is also said to have been affecting the company's stock market investors and the country's general image to attract prospective FDIs. NBR is also losing revenue from corporate tax and indirect tax, which includes SIM tax of Tk200 per new customer. Also, BTRC is losing 6.5 percent of Grameenphone's revenue from new customers," the operator added. Yasir said: "We are grateful to NBR for honouring us with the highest taxpayer award in the telecommunication sector for the seventh consecutive time. Unfortunately, on this very auspicious day, we are unable to serve new customers despite meeting QoS benchmarks set by the regulator." "We believe this will have an adverse effect on the overall economic development of the country, not only because NBR will lose out on tax revenues but also due to its impact on all other sectors which rely on connectivity and digital solutions. It is important that authorities withdraw the SIM sales ban immediately as this is a counter-productive move towards tax revenues and Smart Bangladesh."  Read more: Grameenphone reports 5.2% revenue growth in 1st half

Telecom operator Grameenphone has introduced a mobile data plan (MDP) feature that will allow Android users to manage their mobile data usage and price plans directly from their phones. This feature will help Grameenphone curate personalised data plans accordingly by allowing them to optimise their data usage. The MDP feature enables mobile carriers to notify and alert customers when their data plan is nearing exhaustion, and enables customers to benefit from personalised offers, an alert system, data-usage management tools, and a specialised interface. Read More: Grameenphone can't sell new or old SIM cards: BTRC Users can buy a data pack, check their data balance, and receive threshold notifications seamlessly through the MDP feature. The solution eliminates the need for memorising codes or downloading additional applications for data management. Both prepaid and postpaid customers of Grameenphone can access the plan management feature via the "settings' option on their Android devices. The feature will be rolled out progressively to all Grameenphone customers in the next few months. Users will require handsets supporting Android 4.4 and above to enjoy this plan management feature. Yasir Azman, CEO of Grameenphone, said: "We believe MDP is an important milestone in bringing customer delight as now our customers will be more empowered to control their data plan. We are happy to introduce this simple yet meaningful customer-centric solution in collaboration with Google." Read More: Grameenphone helps 11,000 mango farmers, entrepreneurs understand online business better

After indefinitely suspending new Grameenphone SIM card sale, Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC) now says the telecom operator cannot sell old SIM cards either. BTRC Chairman Shyam Sunder Sikder made the announcement at a programme held at BTRC building on Sunday (November 06, 2022). He said BTRC's approval to Grameenphone for selling 13 lakh old SIM cards has been suspended today. Read more: Mustafa Jabbar directs Grameenphone to ensure quality service On June 29, 2022, BTRC placed an indefinite suspension on new Grameenphone SIM card sale due to the operator’s “failure to provide quality service”. BTRC imposed the indefinite suspension on Grameenphone as it is not providing quality service to its users despite repeatedly being asked to do so, Posts and Telecommunications Minister Mustafa Jabbar told UNB at the time. “The telecom company has no intention to provide quality service, as it is not doing anything to fix the problems that its subscribers are facing,” he said. Read more: Q3 2022: Grameenphone reports 6% revenue growth despite ban on SIM sales

Telecom operator Grameenphone has joined the government's austerity moves to curb its energy consumption and carbon footprint. The Grameenphone headquarters will be non-operational every Thursday, and employees will work from home. Syed Tanvir Husain, chief human resources officer of Grameenphone, said: "The world is going through one of the grave energy crises in recent times. This unprecedented long period of high energy prices and the supply shortage is exerting tremendous pressure on all economies, resulting in consequences in our lives." Read: Grameenphone reports 5.2% revenue growth in 1st half "During these trying times, we have proactively adopted contingency ways of work to curb electricity consumption in solidarity with the government's prudent efforts to navigate the challenges." "Our latest operating model, integration of AI and RPA through modernisation, has enabled our employees to work from home, ensuring smooth operations for our customers," Tanvir added. The government has been taking several energy-conservation measures to mitigate the power crunch and urged people to cooperate and be economical in energy consumption as it is forced to carry out load shedding and limit electricity generation with fuel prices continuously increasing globally. 

Telecom operator Grameenphone has reported revenues of Tk7,421.8 crore for the first six months of 2022, logging a growth of 5.2 percent from the same period last year. In the second quarter, the company acquired 0.9 million new subscribers, reaching 84.6 million subscribers at the end of the first half. Grameenphone CEO Yasir Azman said: "We continued to expand our network and spectrum rollout, reaching over 18.4K 4G sites within the first half of 2022. Driven by enhanced network experience and innovative products, our subscribers grew by 3.2 percent year-on-year to 84.6 million while 4G users grew by 32.7 percent from last year, reaching 31.5 million." Read: GP experiences revenue hike "Top-line improvement continued as we wrap up the first half of 2022 supported by growth in revenue and earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA). Total revenues registered a growth of 5.2 percent, reaching Tk7,421.8 crore for the first six months," Jens Becker, CFO of Grameenphone, said. "In the first half, subscription and traffic revenues grew by 5.6 percent from last year. The data segment continued as the key driver behind our performance, with a 5.7 percent growth in data users and 52.9 percent growth in data usage." "In the first half, EBITDA grew by 3 percent year-on-year driven by top-line growth, with a 61.1 percent  EBITDA margin. Net profit after tax improved to Tk1,730.5 crore, with a margin of 23.3 percent," Jens said. Read Grameenphone, Banglalink main competitors in service quality, capabilities: Opensignal "We are pleased to announce that the board of directors recommended an interim dividend of Tk12.50 per share for our shareholders at the board meeting held on July 17, 2021." During the second quarter of 2022, Grameenphone invested Tk560.2 crore in network coverage and expansion. At the end of the quarter, the operator's total number of sites stood at 19,439. The company paid Tk5,430 crore equaling 73.1 percent of its total revenues, to the national exchequer in the form of taxes, VAT, duties, fees, 4G licence and spectrum assignment during the first half of 2022, according to a media statement. Read Grameenphone helps 11,000 mango farmers, entrepreneurs understand online business better

Telecom operator Grameenphone recently organised an F-commerce event for Kansat Aam Aroddar Shomobay Shomiti at Shibganj, Chapainawabganj. The activity was simultaneously organised at Baneshwar in Rajshahi and Rangpur. The nine-day campaign helped about 11,000 mango farmers and entrepreneurs to gain a better understanding of how to operate their businesses online. Read: Grameenphone, NEG sign MoU on Philip Kotler's book The primary market of mangoes in Bangladesh lies in the north of Rajshahi. Over the past few years, mango businesses for farmers in the north have been thriving over the digital sphere. To help the community of mango farmers and businessmen reach greater heights, Grameenphone is empowering the mango farmers from the northern zone, enabling them to sell mangoes using F-commerce and optimum digital integration. Sajjad Hasib, CMO of Grameenphone, said: "Now online marketplaces are minimising the middleman and maximising profit for the mango growers' communities at the grassroots level." Read GP, Bangladesh Red Crescent Society distribute relief among flood-hit people Redwanur Rahman Moon, an F-commerce mango seller from Rajshahi, said: "People from all over the country stay eager to order mangoes for themselves and their families during this season. Despite huge demand, we struggle with many technical problems that bar our business from expanding to the level we wish to go. We are thankful to Grameenphone for equipping us with digital skills."